Human hair becomes soiled due to its contact with the surrounding environment and from the sebum secreted by the scalp. The soiling of hair causes it to have a dirty feel and an unattractive appearance. The soiling of the hair necessitates shampooing with frequent regularity.
Shampooing cleans the hair by removing excess soil and sebum. However, shampooing can leave the hair in a wet, tangled, and generally unmanageable state. Once the hair dries, it is often left in a dry, rough, lusterless, or frizzy condition due to removal of the hair's natural oils.
A variety of approaches have been developed to alleviate these after-shampoo problems. One approach is the application of hair shampoos which attempt to both cleanse and condition the hair from a single product.
In order to provide hair conditioning benefits in a cleansing shampoo base, a wide variety of conditioning actives have been proposed. Traditionally, shampoos have used cationic polymers to form coacervate for conditioning benefits. However, these shampoo compositions generally do not deliver satisfactory smooth feel in dry hair. The use of shampoo compositions comprising a dispersed fatty alcohol gel network phase has been proposed to achieve improved wet feel and dry conditioning benefit while not interfering with cleansing efficacy. However, stability issues can arise when surfactant crystallizes out of solution at or near room temperature.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a shampoo which can provide improved conditioning benefit for dry hair, while not interfering with the cleansing efficacy, nor providing negative feel to the hair when dried. Specifically, there is a need to provide long lasting moisturized feel, smooth feel, and manageability control to the hair when in dry hair, yet not leave the hair feeling greasy, as well as to provide softness and ease of combing when the hair is wet.